UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ > No. 21-4011 │ v. │ │ DAZHAN C. MCCALLISTER, │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Akron; No. 5:20-cr-00653-1—Patricia A. Gaughan, Chief District Judge.

Argued: June 7, 2022

Decided and Filed: July 7, 2022

Before: McKEAGUE, NALBANDIAN, and READLER, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL ARGUED: Edward R. LaRue, EDWARD R. LARUE INC, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Elizabeth M. Crook, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Edward R. LaRue, EDWARD R. LARUE INC, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Matthew B. Kall, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee. _________________

OPINION _________________

CHAD A. READLER, Circuit Judge. Officers suspected a group of men gathered in a public park of smoking marijuana. So the officers stopped many of them, including Dazhan McCallister. After the stop, an officer recovered a pistol from McCallister’s waistband. McCallister moved to suppress that evidence on the basis that the pistol was discovered after an No. 21-4011 United States v. McCallister Page 2

unlawful search and seizure. The district court denied the motion, and, following final judgment, McCallister appealed. We now affirm.

I.

Talbot Whitney Park is a small rectangular park “tucked away in a residential neighborhood” in Akron, Ohio. Akron Police Department officers consider the park “a high- crime area” due to the frequent presence of firearms, drugs, and violent crime there. For example, the day before the events at issue here, an officer recovered a gun and drugs from the park. Days earlier, the Department received a video depicting several men in the park brandishing assault rifles and pistols.

That takes us to the day in question. The Department received an anonymous call that a group of men was smoking marijuana in the park. Marijuana is an illegal drug under both federal and, save for stringently regulated medical usage, Ohio law. See 21 U.S.C. § 812(b)(1); Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §§ 2925.11, 3796.01–.31; Ohio Admin. Code § 4729:9-1-01(D)(23). An officer drove by and observed a group in the park. Several hours later, an undercover officer confirmed that a group of at least ten people was still there. Neither officer, however, got close enough to determine if the group was smoking marijuana.

Back at the Department, Detective Magaw organized several officers, including Detective Elam, to investigate the happenings at the park. Officers arrived at the park in the early evening. Consistent with previous reports, the officers observed a group of ten to 15 men, including McCallister, gathered together. According to the officers, many of the men were in close proximity of each other, congregating as a group. As the officers approached the group, they detected the odor of marijuana. So the officers bega